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European Investment Bank in nine-figure backing for £4.2bn Thames 'super sewer'

The Thames Tideway Tunnel, also known as the ‘super sewer’, is to receive backing to the tune of £700m after the European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed to provide a loan for the £4.2bn mega infrastructure project.

Stretching 25km, the tunnel is the biggest ever infrastructure project undertaken by the UK water industry and will help control and intercept the discharge of untreated sewage into the Thames.

The loan has been agreed with Tideway, the new regulated company that is to design, build and maintain the new super sewer which will be linked to 30 overflow points stretching West to East along the river from Acton to Stratford.

It represents the largest-ever backing worldwide for a water investment project, and adds to the £8bn in direct investment in projects in London from the European Union’s nonprofit lending institution in the past decade.

Commenting on this new investment, Jonathan Taylor, European Investment Bank Vice President, said: “The new GBP 700 million loan for Tideway represents the European Investment Bank’s largest-ever water loan and the most significant support for UK infrastructure since Crossrail.

“This demonstrates the EIB’s strong commitment as the largest source of financing for long-term investment in UK water infrastructure since before privatisation and builds on more than GBP 2 billion of support for investment to improve London’s water and waste water infrastructure since 1989.”

Mark Corben, Tideway Chief Financial Officer added that the EIB’s investment is ‘an important vote of confidence’ in Tideway as a company with construction about to begin.

He added: “This loan covers a significant proportion of the financing we need to raise. The innovative, index-linked structure enables us to lock-in financing costs, whilst also matching our funding requirements and profiling debt service, in line with the expected growth in our asset base.”

Tideway expects the tunnel to be completed by 2023 with tunnelling beginning next year.